Jones, Betancourt help Mariners continue dominance over Red Sox

Jones had two hits and scored the go-ahead run due to some
shoddy defense as the Mariners recorded their ninth straight
home victory over the Red Sox, 7-4, on Friday.

With the game tied at 4-4 in the sixth inning, Jones reached on
a throwing error by shortstop Julio Lugo to lead off the frame.
The 21-year-old then took second on a pickoff attempt when Mike
Timlin threw wild to first.

Timlin (1-1) compounded his mistake when he unsuccessfully tried
to throw out Jones at third on a sacrifice. Jones then scored
on a ground out by Yuniesky Betancourt to put Seattle up 5-4.

"It's indescribable," Jones said of his return to the big
leagues. "Being back in front of the fans at Safeco was good and
luckily I was able to play well tonight. Hopefully, I can
maintain that."

"He brings so much to the table," Mariners manager John McLaren
said. "There's not really anything he can't do and when it's all
said and done he's going to do everything."

Kenji Johjima padded the lead with a two-run blast in the
seventh - his 12th of the season - for Seattle (60-47), which
has won seven of eight to climb within 2 1/2 games of the Los
Angeles Angels of Anaheim (63-45) for first place in the
American League West Division.

Sean Green (5-1) threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings and J.J. Putz
worked the ninth to record his AL-leading 32nd save in 34
chances.

Green came on in relief of starter Horacio Ramirez in the fifth
with no outs, a run in and runners on first and second to face
Manny Ramirez. Green got Ramirez to ground into an double play
and Mike Lowell to ground out and end the inning without further
damage.

"Green was huge, slamming the door when he did," McLaren said.
"He's been doing it all year. I can't say enough good things
about him."

Jones, Seattle's top prospect who was called up from Class AAA
Tacoma prior to the game, was in the middle of a three-run
fourth that helped Seattle take a 4-3 lead.

The Red Sox held a 3-1 lead in the fourth before Lester allowed
a go-ahead three-run homer to Betancourt, who drove in a
career-high four runs with the help of his sixth homer.

The 23-year-old Lester, who was making his second start since
coming back from non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, allowed four runs and
eight hits in five innings and left after throwing 99 pitches.

"Going out and throwing five innings, giving up eight hits and
four runs is not something you want to do," said Lester, who is
from nearby Tacoma and pitched in front of family and friends.
You want to go out and throw seven, eight, nine shutout innings
and give your team a chance to win and I just didn't do that
tonight. I just wasn't very good."

David Ortiz did his best to help the Red Sox break through in
Seattle, but it was not enough.

Ortiz gave Boston a short-lived lead at 3-0 with his 19th homer
of the season in the third and tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth
with an RBI single.

Boston squandered opportunities early, loading the bases in the
first and second and managing just two runs. With the bases
loaded in the first Mike Lowell scored Dustin Pedroia with a
single. On that play Ramirez made a base running mistake,
getting double off at third when Kevin Youkilis decided to stay
at third.

In the second the first three runners reached, but Pedroia hit
into a double play that scored Wily Mo Pena and Youkilis
grounded out.

"We had them on the ropes early and put up single runs where
hopefully multiple runs would have spread it out, and we weren't
able to do that," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

ALAT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATETWO-RUN HOME RUN BY KENJI JOHJIMA (12) TO LEFT WITH 1 OUT IN THE 7TH OFF MIKE TIMLIN SCORED ADRIAN BELTRE.CURRENT SCORE: BOSTON 4, SEATTLE 7DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: A JONES (.667, 2-FOR-3)

ALAT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATETHREE-RUN HOME RUN BY YUNIESKY BETANCOURT (6) TO LEFT WITH 1 OUT IN THE 4TH OFF JON LESTER SCORED ADAM JONES AND JOSE LOPEZ.CURRENT SCORE: BOSTON 3, SEATTLE 4DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: I SUZUKI (.352, 1-FOR-2)